![]() That storyline was inspired by aspects of Wilson’s real experience as a teenager. In a particularly emotional episode, he is beaten and forced out of his home on Christmas. It reassured me to know not everyone’s journey began with “I always knew.”īut as much as I related to Rickie, his story was very different from mine. These details felt authentic to me as a teenage queer in flux, trying on different labels to find what felt right. He starts out identifying as bi before eventually coming out as gay he wears makeup but experiments with a traditionally masculine look on Halloween he tries using both the girls’ and the boys’ bathroom at school but doesn’t quite fit in either. By that time, I could appreciate more of the nuances of MSCL, like the fluidity of Rickie’s sexual and gender expression. ![]() When I unexpectedly fell for a girl in high school, I was thrown for a loop. But I didn’t yet realize that I was queer too. I became a tiny advocate, chastising friends when they used “That’s so gay!” as an insult. Rickie’s storylines on the show opened my eyes to something I was beginning to see more and more at elementary school: homophobia. But my parents didn’t think twice about broaching the subject or letting me watch MSCL. Many people fear exposing kids to the idea of sexual orientation or gender identity when they’re “too young”-though those very kids may already know they’re attracted to people of the same sex or that their gender doesn’t match what they were assigned. ![]()
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